UPMC is Only Health System Named ‘Most Wired’ for 13 Consecutive Years

PITTSBURGH, July 11, 2011 – For the 13th consecutive year, UPMC has been named one of the 100 “Most Wired” health systems in the country, the only organization to earn that distinction, according to Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association (AHA).

UPMC also is one of the winners of the 2011 Most Wired Innovator Awards for its development of eVisits, a Web-based system for providing secure “electronic housecalls” to patients. This pioneering approach to health care is available to patients of most UPMC primary care physicians and provides a safe, convenient and cost-effective alternative to in-person visits or phone calls for more than 20 conditions. eVisits, using physician-created, structured questionnaires, are integrated into UPMC’s extensive electronic medical records (EMRs) to ensure continuity of patient care.

“UPMC is a long-time leader in adopting, developing and commercializing smart technology that improves care for patients. We are honored to be consistently recognized for these achievements by Hospitals & Health Networks and proud of the dedicated team of clinicians and technologists at UPMC who have made this possible,” said Daniel Drawbaugh, chief information officer of UPMC.

The 13th annual Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study included more than 1,300 hospitals and health systems across the country and measured the use of technology in clinical quality and safety, business and administrative functions, and ambulatory and community services.

Over the past five years, UPMC has invested more than $1.3 billion in technology to support clinical excellence and administrative efficiency as it creates new models of accountable care. UPMC is one of the nation’s earliest and most sophisticated users of EMRs. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in 2009 was the first pediatric facility in the nation to achieve HIMSS Stage 7 status for its virtually paperless environment and the most comprehensive use of EMRs, while seven other UPMC hospitals are Stage 6, as measured by HIMSS Analytics, a subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

Last year, UPMC ranked fifth in the InformationWeek500, a list of the nation’s top technology innovators across all industries, and also was honored with the Healthcare Innovation Award for creating a system that allows radiologists and physicians to access imaging studies from across UPMC to better care for patients.

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